Homecoming for the 1644th Transportation Company

Meeting his daughter

William DeShazer, Chicago Tribune

Sgt. Terry Jones of Sterling, Ill., holds his 6-month old daughter Cadence for the first time with his wife, Amy Jones, as the 1644th Transportation Company returned after a 9-month deployment in Iraq. The soldiers were returning to the Rock Falls Armory.

Sgt. Terry Jones of Sterling, Ill., holds his 6-month old daughter Cadence for the first time with his wife, Amy Jones, as the 1644th Transportation Company returned after a 9-month deployment in Iraq. The soldiers were returning to the Rock Falls Armory. (William DeShazer, Chicago Tribune)

Maria Norwood, of Chicago Heights, left, greets her son, Spc. Michael Brooks, 22, as 167 members of the 1644th Transportation Company return to the Rock Falls Armory after a 9-month deployment to Iraq.

Maria Norwood, of Chicago Heights, left, greets her son, Spc. Michael Brooks, 22, as 167 members of the 1644th Transportation Company return to the Rock Falls Armory after a 9-month deployment to Iraq. (William DeShazer, Chicago Tribune)

The 167 members of the 1644th arrived home from Kuwait, where they have been tending to the aftermath of a war that lasted nearly nine years. The brief homecoming ceremony marked the end of Illinois' role in the Iraq War. Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, more than 25,600 troops from Illinois have deployed to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, nearly 20,000 of them from the Illinois National Guard.